What and how to eat to keep the kidneys healthy

Your kidneys work hard to clean your blood, get rid of waste products, keep balance in electrolytes and fluid amounts. They also produce special hormone called erythropoietin in order to stimulate generation of new red blood cells, when your body needs them.

Unfortunately our unhealthy lifestyle together with genetic factors may affect these vital organs, impairing their function and causing great damage.

Those, who live with diabetes and high blood pressure, have much higher chances of getting kidney failure than others.

The problem is also that many people with kidney issue don’t even know that something is wrong in their bodies. The reason is that these organs have powerful compensatory mechanisms, which help perform kidney function, even if significant part of renal tissue becomes damaged.

It’s also worth knowing that some popular over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen and naproxen may cause harm to your kidneys, if taken for a long time regularly.

What you eat can make great influence not only on your shape, but also on your kidneys, liver, heart and vessels.

You’ve probably heard that staying well-hydrated can help speed up your metabolism and improve kidney performance.

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That’s true, drinking enough fluid is needed to keep optimal water balance in the organism. In fact, there is no evidence to prove that drinking as much as you can, helps your kidneys work better. So taking four to six glasses of water (depending on your physical activity and environmental factors) is enough to keep fluid balance and stay healthy.

What you drink plays a role too. For example, drinking soda won’t enhance your well-being, as it gives you extra calories without providing any nutritional benefits. Taking these high-sugar beverages is associated with unwanted weight gain, dental problems, osteoporosis and kidney disorder.

In general, specialists recommend limiting sugar intake, as it may lead to obesity and diabetes. Both of these conditions have a close link with kidney failure.

Not only sugar can impair your kidney functioning. Specialists say that excessive sodium consumption may be harmful too, as it can retain fluid in the body and boost blood pressure.

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If you already have kidney disease, your doctor may advise to limit amount of protein, as it may be very hard for damaged kidneys to eliminate waste after its absorption.

For those, who have advanced kidney disease, doctors often recommend add more low-phosphorus and low-potassium foods like cabbage, bulgur, red grapes, blueberries, cauliflower, pineapple and radish to avoid buildup of these minerals in the body. This problem may occur, when kidneys lose ability to regulate mineral balance properly.